RMA Software Revolutionizing Military Medical Supply System

Program Manager, July-August, 2001 by Mark Gindele

For some uses, standard numbering systems exist that will maintain continuity for long periods of time such as Social Security Numbers to identify taxpaying citizens. In pharmaceutical products, a standard numbering system -- the NDC [national drug code] -- provides this identification.

However, for non-pharmaceutical products, no standard nomenclature system exists. Each manufacturer is free to use any numbering system, nomenclature system, and catalog system. Many manufacturers incur great costs to differentiate their products from their competitor's products. This allows them to price their product based on non-tangible factors. Facilitating a common numbering system would negate their differentiation scheme. For this reason, when you buy a medical/surgical product, you need to state both the manufacturer and catalog number given the product by its manufacturer.

Every two years the military's supply center -- Defense Supply Center, Philadelphia (DSCP) -- receives a list of items the Military Services project they will need in the event their units are called to defend the nation. These lists are compiled and analyzed by supply specialists. DSCP then asks industry, by way of a survey, if they could supply these items in an emergency situation, where the government would need substantial quantities in a given time frame. These responses are compared to the "shortfalls" reported by the Services, and contingency plans are drafted to find suppliers for those items that industry cannot supply within a given timeframe.

Readiness Management Application -- RMA

RMA uniquely addresses the supply question. At first, system analysts thought of trying to gain access to suppliers' inventory databases. However, all such efforts proved to be futile. First, vendors responded that they had no contractual reason to permit the government access. Second, access to this information in the wrong hands could seriously compromise the highly competitive pharmaceutical industry. Since military sales account for only a small percentage of a vendor's business, the government didn't have the clout to force vendors to oblige.

The approach taken by RMA was to buy medical sales data from private sources that collect this information from the pharmaceutical industry. RMA would track this information on a monthly basis for each commercially selling product. From the sales information, RMA analysts can identify trends -- whether positive, neutral, or negative -- for products. They can also see quantities being sold. Using a healthy margin to account for some statistical and data collection errors, RMA can deduce production quantities by analyzing sales trends. Stated simply RMA can tell whether a product is available by first determining if it is selling.

RMA provides the link from the military numbering system to commercial nomenclature to all commercially selling products that meet the military requirement. It also identifies the government's need for a product and shows if the product is available in the quantities required based on actual sales figures. RMA also offers the military several other features that allow better resource planning.